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A map of parking spots to be converted into small parks for Cambridge's 3rd Annual Park(ing) Day Friday. Map courtesy the City of Cambridge.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Cambridge is more than doubling participation in its Park(ing) Day this year by converting 36 parking spots into small parks Friday.

The event which aims at calling attention to the need for more urban open space, will run from around 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, with parking spots converted into parks at different locations around the city including Kendall Square, Central Square, Harvard Square, North Cambridge and other neighborhoods.

Local businesses, city departments and community groups will convert the spots into everything from miniature golf and cornhole games, to a miniature house, a bicycle tune-up spot, a poetry park and and a tap water stand manned by Cambridge City Mayor Henrietta Davis.

Jennifer Lawrence, the city’s sustainability planner, said the 36 spots being converted into parks this year is up from 16 spots converted in last year's event and is up from the single spot used during the first Park(ing) Day in 2011.

Lawrence said the converted spots highlight what can be done in a relatively small space “to make something really vibrant happen” as well as showcasing the many different things the city has to offer.

“We’re pretty excited,” Lawrence said.

Park(ing) Day was first held in San Francisco in 2005, and is being coordinated in Cambridge by the Community Development Department.

There will also be a scavenger hunt in which teams can win prizes by visiting all of the converted parking spots.